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A Publication Featuring The Information Services
Technology of Maine State Government
| Volume VII, Issue 9 | September 2004 |
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By State Archivist Jim Henderson
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After nearly 20 years of State agencies collecting data in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we realized that Maine citizens were in danger of losing access to this information, since there were no standards governing retention. Access could also be lost due to the relentless changes in technology (remember 5 ¼" floppy discs?), if the data were not migrated when systems were upgraded. Saving paper maps would not address this problem. A new system is needed to "retire", instead of "delete" archivally valuable GIS data, in an automated, non-intrusive (to daily work) and standardized way. |
Recognizing that all the other 49 states share our dilemma, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, at its May, 2004 meeting, approved the GeoArchives proposal submitted by the State Archives, in collaboration with the Maine Office of GIS (MEGIS), which will
1) create standards in order to designate a select set of Maine State Geographic Information System (GIS) records as archival,
2) develop, in partnership with the GeoLibrary, an internet-based GeoArchives system prototype, and implement it for a selected set of archival GIS records, and
3) amend Archives Advisory Board, GeoLibrary, and Information Services Policy Board rules to recognize and enforce the implementation of the new standard(s) and prototype throughout Maine government.
Starting in July, the project team has considered the various methods of archiving GIS data, based upon research conducted by Bob Bistrais, a senior programmer analyst at MEGIS. Because GIS data is complex, understanding and choosing vendor neutral approach(es) to document archivally important changes over time, occupied the team’s attention throughout the summer.
The challenge is considerable. For example the E9-1-1 roads layer is constantly being updated, and the team is striving to develop a prototype which would enable Internet users to peel away changes by date, in order to map, in this example, the roads as they had been at a previous time chosen by the user. Versioning, a recent feature of ESRI’s Arc Editor "creates point-in-time representations of the database to manage history." MEGIS’ experience to date with versioning concerns its ability to support multiple, concurrent database editors, and many issues must be researched, to ascertain if versioning could be used in developing this prototype.
There is also the question of "what State agency-owned GIS data is archival"? The team anticipates there is valuable GIS data held by State agencies that is not included in the MEGIS Data Catalog (megis.maine.gov/catalog). Thus, throughout the autumn, presentations describing the project and its anticipated outcomes will be made to the GeoLibrary Board, Information Services Policy Board, GIS Executive Council, and others.
Since there are no State archival standards for GIS data currently, we intend to solicit input from these agencies and others to draft standards and develop a needs assessment in order to fine tune prototype deliverables. We will also seek input from consulting experts in GIS and Archives disciplines. This process will unfold over the next 18 months, and progress will be published on the project’s web site.
Does your agency have GIS data, that you feel will be of interest to citizens in the future? Perhaps you think this data layer would be a good candidate upon which to test the system prototype? (We anticipate 4-5 datasets will be chosen this fall.) Please feel free to contact GeoArchives project manager Mary Cloutier by e-mailing mary.cloutier@maine.gov or calling 207-624-7536.
